In the past, the design freedom for the external design of motor vehicles was restricted considerably by the necessity of mechanically complicated handle arrangements for motor vehicle doors.
The term “motor vehicle door” is to be interpreted broadly in the present case. It includes, for example, side doors, rear hatches, rear lids, engine bonnets, load compartment floors or the like.
An increase in the above design freedom can be achieved, for example, by virtue of the fact that the handle arrangement is covered by a cover flap arrangement as long as no actuation of the handle arrangement is imminent. The known cover flap arrangement (DE 10 2005 003 932 B4), from which the invention proceeds, discloses a cover flap which can be displaced by motor and can be displaced into a covering position which covers the handle arrangement. The handle arrangement has a hoop-like handle section, the cover flap which is situated in the exposing position permitting gripping from both sides of the handle section, that is to say from the top and from the bottom. However, the sliding movement of the cover flap leads to gripping being possible successively first on one side and then on the other side of the handle section. In order to avoid possible waiting times for the user, the sliding movement of the cover flap is to be carried out at a particularly high speed, which leads to high structural outlay. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that the sliding movement which is provided over the entire width of the handle section requires a complicated linear guide, which further increases the structural outlay.
The invention is based on the problem of configuring and developing the known cover flap arrangement in such a way that high user comfort can be realized with low structural outlay.